Familiar
by MakeLoveNotSense
Summary: Doctor plus regeneration equals a familiar face for Donna...
1. Chapter 1

Wrote this on LJ and thought I may as well post it here. I said on my Profile Page I'll write any idea, and that's exactly what this is (although surprisingly for me, it's not that angst-y). So, welcome to my first piece of Romance. Ish.

Disclaimer: Not Mine. Although I think - I _think_ - the idea may be fairly original.

* * *

Familiar

He walked up to the door nervously. Two or three regenerations since he last saw her, and all the while he's been wondering when to go back. When she would say yes.

His mind drifts back to the last time he saw her. Her memories returned... he would never forget the way she had knocked insistantly on the TARDIS doors, and invited herself back in with a flippant 'Hello, Spaceman'. They had saved the world - again - and he had invited her back on board the TARDIS. Same old life, hand in glove. Please?

But she had turned him down. There was more kindness on her face this time than that first time in the snow, but her definitive 'No' broke his heart almost as much as losing her in the first place. She had things to do, she said, responsibilities, and she refused to be the one to deprive the universe of its Doctor. So he left, and she stayed.

The waiting nearly killed him. He knew, one day, he would leave the traveller's life and return to her. And this time, he would do it properly, the two of them, together, forever... Please?

And yesterday, with his brand new face, the TARDIS mirror showed him an end to that wait. A sign that he could finally, _finally_, go back to her. Destiny.

But first, he had to make a quick trip. All for the sake of paradoxes, but the false life brought tears to his eyes as he walked tentatively up the familiar path. But he would have that life now; he would offer it to her on a plate along with his heart.

He knocked on the door, just as she had done all those years ago. And, like him, she would open the door to a familiar face. But it would not be the one she expected.

She opened the door, still as beautiful as ever, and gasped.

"Lee?"


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 for your pleasure. On with the show...

* * *

"Lee?"

She could hardly believe it. After refusing the Doctor, she had thought that everything from her old life was gone. She had missed it, of course she had, but had never once doubted her choice to stay behind.

But here _he_ was, standing on her doorstep, and the hopeful look on his face was almost more than she could bear.

"Donna, can I come in?" he said seriously and she frowned. The tone of his voice was not one she was used to - or as 'used to' as one could be to a virtual partner. Nevertheless, she stepped aside to allow him into the faded hallway, almost blushing at the dingy state of the house. But it was her house now, ever since her mum and grandad... well, she hadn't wanted to change it. And he was looking around in familar appreciation, so she let it go.

"You can sit down through there. Tea?" she questioned, ever the gracious hostess. Or it could be that she wanted to escape the awkward conversation for as long as possible.

"Milk and two sugars, thanks." He looked relieved at her intervention. _This is gonna be a long night_, she thought as she bustled around the kitchen, ignoring the little voice that said _the Doctor takes his tea like that_.

When she brought it through, they sat in silence, one on each sofa. At right angles; close, but not touching. His eyes never left her face. She wondered why it didn't make her uncomfortable. And as in the most awkward of silences, they began to speak together.

"So-"

"How-"

Donna took charge, and carried on as he stopped. "How did you get here? What happened to the 51st century?"

He shifted his gaze to the floor and left it there as he spoke. "Donna, I'm not who you think I am."

She laughed humourlessly. "No, I kind of guessed when I couldn't find the name 'Lee' at the Library. Go on, then. What's your real name?"

To her horror, his eyes filled with tears at her words as he lifted his eyes back to her face. And in that moment, she felt a flash of... _something_. Something not-quite-Lee.

"Lee was created by the Library. I'm not... " and his face lit up with a flash of inspiration. "Donna, can I show you something? Something to help me explain?"

She nodded cursely, and he moved to kneel in front of her. She blanched as he lifted his fingers to her temples, and he quickly withdrew them.

"Sorry, sorry..."

"It's OK." It wasn't OK. The memories of the Doctor in her mind were still raw after all these years, in vivid Time Lord technicolour. Not for the first time, she felt the tug of the DoctorDonna on her carefully erected mental barriers and spent a minute strengthening the blocks in her mind. "I'm ready."

He repeated the action, and she managed to stop herself from flinching. And then...

She felt him press gently against her mind. But it wasn't the warm, cosy, middle-of-the-road pastels she associated with Lee. This was striking colours, opposites and contrasts. Blacks, oranges, whites all marbled before her eyes like sunlight on oil, with the feelings inbetween - fire and ice and loneliness and pain and love...

And she knew him.

"Doctor?"


	3. Chapter 3

Second-to-last part for your (dis)pleasure.

* * *

"Doctor?"

His eyes flew open to meet hers and he marvelled at her instinctive grasp of interpreting the colours in her mind. That was something he had meant to teach her before he left, but it was lost somewhere between the fight for Earth and her refusal. He nodded slowly.

CRACK!

He hit the floor as the mother of all slaps crossed his face and in spite of himself, smiled. _That's my Donna_. He pulled himself upright and grinned at her, looking remarkably like his tenth self.

"Explain."

The note of danger in her voice was enough to have him scrambling for coherency, but he managed to pull together two sentences that fit.

"I regenerated into Lee. He was me all along."

Her confusion was obvious. "The Library... Josh and Ella..."

"Your children. _Our_ children. Before I came here, I went back there."

"I... Excuse me."

And abruptly, she left the room.

---

The Doctor. He was the Doctor. Arguably, the love of her life was the _Doctor_.

But thinking about it, it made sense. All the little things she remembered - the way he seemed to know all about her before she'd said a word, the way holding his hand felt so natural, even the way he'd said "I love you in a wedding dress" on their wedding day... She blushed as she remembered the wedding _night_. And all the nights after that.

She quickly moved her thoughts to the actual regeneration, and was filled with sadness. He'd been on his own - no companion had come to the door with him. Her guilt washed over her. _I should have been with him_.

But in his thoughts, there had been no blame. No accusations or lies. He had missed her, and waited for her, and...

And he loved her.

How was she supposed to deal with that? She had only ever thought of him as a friend. Hadn't she?

No. Looking back, he had never been 'just a mate'. And the last time she saw him, the way he looked at her... He was always exactly what she needed.

So when she turned and he was standing behind her, she wasn't surprised in the slightest. She was, however, confused, and all the hope and apprehension he could muster were not going to stop her getting the answers she wanted.

"Why did you come back?"


	4. Chapter 4

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I have completed my first multi-chapter fic, indulged my inner shipper, and failed my exams by writing instead of revising. Hope it was worth it. And thank you to anyone reading and/or reviewing. I don't know why you would review without reading, but...

* * *

"Why did you come back?"

Every possible answer ran through his head, from the flippant to the melodramatic. But in the end, he settled for the undiluted truth.

"Because I love you."

She shook her head, laughing slightly. She was laughing at him. Was that good?

"No, I meant why did you come back _now_?" She waved her arm vaguely, indicating his new form. And that question had him cornered. Why was he back in her life now? Why, upon looking in the mirror to discover the face he had seen as he was removing her memories, did he decide that she would accept him more now than she had before?

"Donna... Last time I saw you, you turned me down. No, just-" He held up a hand to stop her unspoken protest. "Just let me finish. You had to stay behind because you had responsibilities. And I accepted that. But being..._Lee_," he stumbled over the word, "being Lee, I was with you in the Library and I saw your life. It was, not ordinary but... normal. House with carpets, 2.4 kids... and I wanted that. I wanted to be there, with you, having that."

He couldn't judge her expression. Eyes on his face, narrowed like they usually were when she was thinking hard. "What about the TARDIS?"

Ah. The one sticking point in his plan. Time to try the innocent approach. "What about her?"

She didn't buy it. Of course she didn't. She knew him far too well for that. "Don't play games with me, Spaceman. You can't stay in one place for the rest of your life. You'd go loopy."

He had no answer, except to dimly register that she had for the first time called him Spaceman. And then she said the last thing he'd expected.

"Let me see her."

---

The TARDIS was just like she remembered. It was unnerving actually, like stepping into your old home so long after vacating it and finding that the new occupants kept your family photos on the mantlepiece. She traced the console lightly, relaxing to the sound that was less of a hoover, more of an absent-minded hum whilst doing the housework. The Doctor's words, not hers.

Speaking of which... she looked furtively at him under the pretence of examining the scanner. The DoctorDonna in her mind rushed forwards to translate the words on screen, but her attention was solely on the man nervously bobbing in the doorway as if waiting for her to announce the results of an inspection.

Memories washed over her. The places and the people, things they'd said or done, but always him at the forefront of everything. Bouncing around, grinning madly, holding her hand...

And her mind was made up.

"We're taking things slowly."

He looked perplexed at her words, but let her continue.

"I know the whole 'marriage and kids' thing has already happened, but that was just a computer getting funny ideas. We're mates, Spaceman, you got that? Before anything else, we're mates."

His eyes widened as he realised what she was implying. "You're coming with me? But you said..."

"I know what I said. And I did have responsibilities - Mum and Grandad. But now..." she let the rest of her sentence hang, allowing him to work out the rest as her vision blurred around the edges.

To his credit, he looked devastated for her. But the hope in his voice was self-evident. "I meant what I said. I lo-"

"I know." she cut him off abruptly, then allowed a small smile to creep across her face as she moved round the console to face him. "And just so you know, Spaceman..."

He was barely breathing now. "Yes, Donna?" he whispered softly as she leaned in.

"...I'm driving."


End file.
